Dr. Angela Gatzke-Plamann didn’t fully grasp her community’s opioid crisis until one desperate patient called on a Friday afternoon in 2016. “He was in complete crisis because he was admitting to me that he had lost control of his use of opioids,” recalled Gatzke-Plamann. The patient had used opioids for …
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This story also ran on NPR. This story can be republished for free (details). Improving health and lowering costs for the sickest and most expensive patients in America is a dream harder to realize than many health care leaders had hoped, according to a study published Wednesday by the New …
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Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve questions about touchy family topics, such as divorce, unstable housing or a parent who struggles with alcoholism. California now will pay doctors to screen patients for …
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By Sarah Varney January 3, 2020 Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News More than a million fewer children receive public health insurance now than in December 2017. In some cases, their parents acquired coverage at work. But researchers also see a troubling rise in uninsured children — and say the Trump …
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Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). AUSTIN, Texas — Retired state employees Vickey Benford, 63, and Joan Caldwell, 61, are Golden Rollers, a group of the over-50 set that gets out on assorted bikes — including trikes for adults they call “three wheels of awesome” …
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Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Dispensing The Facts — Or Dispensing With The Facts? Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact HealthCheck’s rating of our advertisement on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug …
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Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). For years, Richard Manning knew what he needed to cope with his physical pain, rage and PTSD — much of which he traced to a career-ending knee injury he suffered while on a domestic security detail with the Marines. …
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Editor’s note: Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. OAKLAND, Calif. — After years of state sanctions and fines, Kaiser Permanente claims it has gone a long way toward improving its mental health care. The national managed-care …
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Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). San Francisco Mayor London Breed has promised to tackle her city’s homelessness crisis, a vexing situation involving drug abuse and mental illness that is compounded by the city’s high housing costs. Breed has asked Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, most …
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Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio Babies born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy represent one of the most distressing legacies of an opioid epidemic that has claimed almost 400,000 lives and ravaged communities. In fact, many of the ongoing lawsuits filed against drug companies refer to these babies, fighting through withdrawal …
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